The Orioles Observer

Yesterday was officially the first day of Spring, even though the Spring weather already arrived weeks ago. I guess this arbitrary date is as good as any to kick the countdown to Opening Day into high gear. We still have the conclusion to the 9/28/11 series which we hope to wrap up very soon, but the in the mean time I plan on spending the next few weeks throwing up various blogs, videos, music, and whatever else pops into my mind to get ready for the 2012 Orioles season.
To kick things off, here is the video for "Black and Orange (Official Orioles Anthem)" by Dboi Da Dome, E' From Da Wic and Jay Luv. I am not so sure that I would call it an Orioles anthem (official or otherwise) as besides for a couple generic mentions of "birds", a reference to Cal Ripken in the refrain and the O's -related clothing and scenery in the video, the song doesn't have all that much to do with the team. I'm nitpicking though. It is one of the better spin-offs of "Black and Yellow" I have heard and the song/video definitely have a strong Baltimore feel.

An Orioles-specific version of the song was produced and played a couple of times at OPACY last year, which we will probably post up here at some point. I have an iaffinity for this version, however. Here you have a song that positions itself as an "official" anthem for the Orioles, but spends most of its time celebrating the city's drug and crime scenes/history. The main hook in the refrain is "Home of The Wire/where Little Melvin lives." Not "the Orioles" and "Brooks Robinson" or anything like that. Yet every time I watch this video, I get pumped up for some Orioles Baseball. I don't know what that says about me or the city of Baltimore, but it works.